Karma's Keeper
by DormantDragon28
Summary: A completely original work. Damien is well on his way to becoming a Libra, one who protects the balance of good and evil. His last step to complete is spending a full year in The Academy. But can he manage when he's forced to partner up with the new girl?
1. Damien Cross

Chapter 1- Damien Cross

A lone boy sat quietly along the beach, watching the waves crash upon the shore. His spiky auburn hair swayed slightly in the gentle breeze. The Hindu style robes he wore were giving off a steady and constant ripple. Hazel eyes stared blankly over the ocean, taking in the beauty of the scene. His moment of tranquility was interrupted when a hand roughly smacked his back, almost knocking him over. He looked up to see muscular six foot two boy adorned in a black beater, tan cargo shorts, and black sandals smiling down at him, dreadlocks flowing in the breeze.

"And what _are _ya doin' Damien?" he greeted.

"What you blind? I'm trying to enjoy the scenery before tomorrow starts up Eddy. Why are you here?" Damien replied.

"Meh, de same reason I guess. But I could already see dat. I was referrin' to ya threads. What's with de getup?" he inquired as he arched his eyebrow.

Damien sighed exasperatedly.

"These are Hindu style meditation robes, they're comfortable" he explained. "What's with the face?" he inquired after noticing Eddy's expression.

"It's nothin', they jus' seem kinda….traditional" he said as he trailed off.

Damien glared daggers at him.

"Whatever" he replied "With those dreads you look like you could be in one of those human music videos." He shot back.

"Says you, de gals love de long dreads" Eddy boasted.

"Yeah, because they can relate…" Damien scoffed.

"Shut it…" Eddy muttered horror stricken.

"Then don't insult my outfit" he said half laughing. "Besides, Syd said I would look nice in it…" he trailed off, slightly blushing. Eddy noticed and perked up.

"Ah, so dats it." His eyes narrowed. "Ma' got you de threads" he smiled. "No wonder ya took offense." Damien waved him off.

"Yeah, no wonder. And stop calling her your mother" he said possessively. "Technically we're not related to her…" a hint of disdain evident in his tone. Eddy instantly picked up on that.

"Well hell, after all she did for us, she might as well be" he stated firmly.

"That's true…" he agreed as he looked out over the ocean.

They both quietly just took in the scenery and enjoyed the silence. It seemed like an hour until Eddy spoke up again.

"So, ya ready for tomorrow?" he asked, not tearing his gaze from the water.

Damien thought about it for a minute. Tomorrow was their first day at the Libra Academy, the place where they would study in order to become official Libras, keepers of the balance. They would be living inside the colossal tower for a full year for the sole purpose of honing their abilities to defend that balance. They would receive free food, housing, appliances, and clothes for the duration of their stay there. To him it sounded like a pretty sweet deal.

"I guess so…" he muttered nonchalantly.

"Oh, did I mention dat de dorms are co-ed!?" he yelled with sparkles in his eyes.

At those words, all of the color drained from Damien's face.

"S-say that again?" he stammered.

"Yeah, bruh, da dorms are co-ed. We bunkin' wit de ladies now!" he declared, eyes full of anticipation. "Aren't ya excited....bruh? Eddy tore his gaze away form the sea to examine his best friend.

Damien's entire body was frozen solid. Not a twitch, not a muscle spasm, no movement what so ever. A passerby may have thought he had died where he was sitting. Eddy squatted down and waved a hand in front of Damien's face. He received no response whatsoever. Eddy lightly shook Damien out of his trance-like state; he immediately came back to his senses.

"Y-yeah, I'm sorry….what did you say?" he managed to get out. But Eddy had already put the pieces together and confronted the source of the problem.

"Dude, ya can't go 'round freezin' up like dat every time de possibility of interaction with de opposite sex comes up." He paused momentarily to see if Damien was even paying attention. Damien was looking at him like a child that had been forced to confront the monster in the closet, so he continued. "It's not healthy for ones mind, soul, _and _ya body." He smirked. "_If_ ya know what I mean." He stated, making sure to place emphasis on the "if".

Damien allowed Eddy's words to sink in for a minute, until finally, he formulated his response.

"You'll excuse me if I don't have dozens of hoes waiting in the wings for me at every moment." He said sarcastically. "Not all of us are womanizers and lady-killers like you." He added, a bit of envy evident in his tone.

Eddy just smiled at his words.

"Easy, easy." He said as he backed off. "I'm just sayin' dat soona' or lata' you'll have to spend time wit' a female other den Ma'". He paused. "Which reminds me, she wanted to see you about somethin' back at her place." He finished.

Damien perked up at those words.

"I wonder what she wants?" He asked simply.

"Meh, she wouldn't say. She jus' told me to tell you to drop by her place before tomorrow if you get a chance." He answered, looking a tad bit confused.

Both of them sat there for a minute pondering what exactly their mentor could have wanted. Usually if Syd needed them for something, she would just go out and track them down herself. If she was asking _them_ to come to _her_ for once, it was probably important, they both realized.

"Hmph" Damien grunted. "I find her in about an hour or so, right now I just wanna enjoy the peacefulness of this place." He said quietly.

Eddy sighed tiredly.

"Alright, I'm headin' back to the village, I need some sleep. He said, half yawning. "Tomorrow's a big day." He concluded, walking back in the direction of the village.

"Yeah, I know." He muttered.

Damien sat alone for quite some time, just admiring all of the sights and sounds the beach brought him. Even though he was sprawled out along the beach enjoying this peace and tranquility, his mind was quite the opposite. His head raced with thoughts of what tomorrow would bring. He would be in a new place, he would be forced to interact with new people, and he would learn many new things centered on Karma, the omniscient force that flows through the universe, and its workings.

His heart gave a jump at that thought.

Syd had taught him more then a few things about Karma, so he had sort of an edge on the other incoming Libras in-training. But he had never received any other formal education on the matter. Even so, his skills with channeling Karma through his Chakra gates were nothing to dismiss. It would have taken any other trainee at least ten years to even _slightly_ start to feel Karma around him, but Damien had started see it in only a mere two months, something unheard of for most trainees. By the time he had reached the five year mark, he was starting to get the hang of materialization. Materialization techniques were mostly limited to higher level Libras. Who, even then, had been in service for at least a few decades. But Damien had taken to it quite easily, and yielded surprising results. On his first try, Damien managed to materialize a very sharp Japanese katana out of some rocks and a tree branch. When Syd had asked him to try and sever a nearby palm tree with it he happily obliged. He swung down hard, neatly severing the palm tree straight down its trunk. But, to her surprise, not only did he slice the palm tree in half, he also severed the palm tree a few yards behind it, and put a noticeable gash in the boulder immediately behind _that_. Syd was very proud of that little stunt. And she continued to work with him to strengthen his abilities even further.

By the time he reached his fifty year training mark, he was in the process of learning energy manipulation training. Now, unlike materialization, energy manipulation was a little tricky. Materialization allowed one to construct anything imaginable by channeling a little Karma through a few basic mediums, but energy manipulation took it to a whole new level of possibilities. Energy Manipulation allowed one to create and manipulate tangible and intangible forces by focusing a fair amount of Karma and re-directing it to manage, amplify, or enhance specific "aspects" of nature. These aspects may include elements such as fire, water, earth, wind, light, and shadows; or forces such as kinetic, thermal, and atomic-level energies.

Energy manipulation gave Damien more than his fair share of problems. The skill he had with materialization seemed to disappear during this type of training. Due to his frequent protest and doubt he constantly raised concerning his abilities, Syd decided to start out slow by instructing him to create and maintain a baseball sized fireball. This was a disaster. Damien had no control whatsoever with the fireball. Syd would always provide sarcastic but constructive criticism at each and every of Damien's attempts. It was always either too small, not hot enough, lacked enough Karma, had no shape, or some horrible combination of all of the before mentioned flaws. In one particular incident his aggravation and rage managed to reach a boiling point, and in response he produced large basketball sized white colored fireball. Syd, immensely impressed at this feat, was reduced to silence. However, this did not last long as Damien's own surprise caused him to lose his concentration, and his glowing mass of white-hot energy detonated in his hand as a response. Syd was already fifty feet away by the time the explosion happened. The explosion left a crater big enough to put two or three village huts in. Damien, left smoldering and scorched at the bottom of said crater, vowed never again to engage in energy manipulation training.

Damien's face twisted in agony at that particular memory. Even though he never did finish E.M training, he was confident in his materialization abilities to get him out of a pinch. Syd constantly told him that depending on only one particular aspect of Karma will throw his balance off, but he decided to take his chances.

Lost in the nostalgia of it all, Damien couldn't help but think he was forgetting something. His eyes instantly popped open as he remembered his mentor had requested his presence. He sprung up, landed on his feet, turned on his heels and made a dash for the village.

**AN: So? What did you think? Any comments or reviews are welcome. Being my first official story, constructive criticism is highly encouraged**. **But please, no flaming. If you don't like my story, kindly discontinue reading it.**


	2. Powerful, yet awkward

**AN: I think chapter 1 didn't have enough "substance" to actually get people interested in this story. So, I've decided to go ahead and upload Chapter 2. Hopefully this chapter will start to make the story a little interesting.**

Chapter 2- Powerful, yet awkward

Damien's blood was in full rush as he dashed through the jungle. Birds, insects, and small animals whizzed passed him as he continued his sprint. Any other person would probably be getting tired or would be wheezing after ten full minutes of all out running. But Damien was not any other person.

In order to properly channel Karma through one's being it is required not only to have a focused mind, but to have strong body as well. And that's exactly what he had. But alas, this as well as all of his other assets did not come without its price….

_-Flashback-_

"_Oh, come on Damien darling, you're tired already?" Syd spoke in her signature motherly yet sarcastic manner._

_A beat up, and noticeably less toned and muscular Damien was balancing on one foot, had both arms extended out to the side with a full bucket of water in each hand, three bricks stacked on top of his head, and a burning candle on top of his exposed foot._

_"Ya think!? You made me run five laps nonstop around the village, swim against the current of a raging river, and climb the cliff overlooking the beach without gear. All of them back-to-back. And now you've got me doing THIS!? He wailed._

_Syd looked at her apprentice without the smallest trace of sympathy in her eyes._

_"You bet your ass I do." She said in an even tone._

_"You honestly expect me not to be tired right now, don't you?" he asked in a half sigh._

_"Yup, I made Edward go through the same thing and he didn't complain nearly as much as you have." She stated. "Now stop, squirming so much, if you drop one of those bricks I'm sending this boulder I'm sitting on straight at you. If you spill a bucket of water I'm throwing you in the river with weights this time." She paused. She held out her hand and formed a basketball sized crimson orb of fire in it. "And Karma help you if you somehow drop or cause that candle to go out…." She stated, eyes deadly serious._

_Damien reflected on her words for a minute. His eyes shot open, fear as obvious as Syd's fireball emblazoned across his face._

_"That's not fair! If I so much as drop ONE of them you'll hit me with something that will cause all of the others to drop!" he screamed in disbelief._

_All his master did was smirk._

_"Well tough titty Damien my boy, that just means you need to make sure none of them drop." Syd stated simply._

_"This is ridiculous…" he muttered._

_"Not really kid, this is the price you pay for becoming a Libra. How do you expect to even begin channeling Karma if your body can't even contain it? If you even tried to start channel it now you'd probably blow a chakra gate." She said coldly._

_Syd's words cut Damien deeply._

_"Fine…..whatever." he muttered eventually._

_"Relax Damien, you'll do alright..." Came a voice from behind him._

_Even though it was virtually impossible for Damien to turn around he knew who it was from the sound of their voice._

_"Hello Eddy…" Damien said flatly._

_"Good morning, Edward!" Syd cooed._

_A slightly shorter and slightly less buff Eddy appeared out of the thickets behind Damien._

_"How's it goin' Ma?" he said, slightly blushing at the use of his full first name._

_"It's going fine Edward, little Damien here is finally getting the hang of the Triple threat." She teased._

_"Ouch, I rememba' dat. I was sore for a week after dat…" Eddy cringed at the memory. "I dropped a brick and ya sent de boulder at me causing de candle to die, den you blasted me with dat very fireball your holding causing de buckets to spill, and den you bound de bricks to my feet and threw me in de river…" He muttered pain evident in his voice._

_"Don't be that way sweetheart, I did it for your own good. Just look at that fabulous body you have now." She stated, her voice full of pride._

_Eddy looked at the ground and kicked a rock._

_"Aw shucks Ma…" he said as he blushed._

_Damien laughed at that scene, which in turn caused the top most brick on his head to shift slightly and fall off, landing with a loud thud by his side._

_All of the color drained from his face. He turned around carefully to ask Eddy for help. But Eddy was already gone. He turned back around to face his master. _

_Eyes as cold as ice glared at him lethally._

_"Fuck…" he concluded._

_-End Flashback-_

"I am so glad that shit is over and done with..." He muttered to himself.

He continued to rush through the lush jungle and eventually started to see a cliff hanging over the distance up ahead, but he didn't slow down at this realization. In actuality, he sped up upon seeing this. As the cliff drew closer, he thought to himself: _"Here we go…"_

At the very edge of the cliff he gave a massive leap, propelling himself full force over the edge. He was in freefall for a full minute just enjoying the sensation of it all. When he saw the hard and jagged earth rapidly approaching him, he leaned forward into a spin. As he spun, a silvery energy began to stock pile in his right hand and legs. As soon as he was finished amassing enough energy, not a second later had he plowed into the ground. Although he had landed in a crouching position with a very loud shockwave, he wasn't injured or hurt in the slightest. However, strangely, his right hand and legs were buried in about six inches of sand. He pulled his limbs out and began to brush himself off.

"You're gonna forget to pull that little materialization trick one of these days Dee…" said a voice in front of him.

"Yeah, be careful. We really don't want you crippling yourself before you even get into the academy." came another.

Damien didn't even have to look up. "It's nice to see you guys too. Max and Lance." He said slightly amused.

Two medium sized, short blonde haired, twin boys dressed in identical gray jumpsuits stood in front of him.

"Yo." The gatekeepers both smiled and said in unison.

"I'll try to cut down on the freefalling from now on, ok?" Damien said with a smirk.

The gatekeepers exchanged glances.

"Yeah, that's exactly what you said last time." Max stated.

"And all of the times before that as well." Lance added pointing to the area around them.

Damien took a look at the ground around them. It was littered with patches of sand identical to the one he was still standing in.

"I have no idea where those other ones came from…" he said smiling.

"Yeah, sure." Max scoffed

"Whatever…" Lanced finished.

"Your master needed to speak to you about something, you should go see her." Max said.

"Yeah, I'm on my way to see her now. Take care guys." He said, walking through the village gate.

"Peace." They both said in unison.

Damien made his way through the village streets, the usual street vendors and children greeted him with smiles. He continued his trek down the streets until he came to a large and beautifully decorated white stone building. He sighed and entered the building.

A girl with green eyes, dark brown hair that had blond tips, and caramel skin greeted him at a desk in the center of the lobby. She was clad in a white button down shirt and red tie that did nothing to hide her bust. The black skirt and red tie didn't help to much either. And the stilettos revealing her perfectly manicured and pedicured feet only added to the sight.

"Hello sir, how can I help you?" she asked, her voice every bit as soft and gorgeous as her features were.

His heart gave a noticeable jump. Damien just stared at her, taking in her flawless features. The smell of cherry blossoms in the air made him a bit dizzy. Completely oblivious to what she had just said.

"Um, sir?" she repeated.

Damien instantly snapped back to his senses.

"Uh…yeah, I uh…um need to speak to Syd." He stammered uncontrollably.

The secretary quickly skimmed through some pages in a notebook on her desk.

"Oh yes, Damien Cross is it?" the woman asked.

"Y-yes" he stuttered again.

"The grand mistress has been waiting for you, go right in." she gestured to the door immediately behind her.

"Thank you ma'am" he said, mentally praising himself for not stuttering this time.

"No problem, Mr. Cross." She giggled

Damien turned scarlet red at the use of his last name. He made a break for the door.

He all but slammed it when he was finally behind it. He heard a faint chuckle coming from the other side.

_"Damn my awkwardness…" _he mentally scolded himself.

"Did you meet Eva sweetheart?" a sarcastic voice came from behind him.

He spun around to meet that voice.

A coffee skinned woman with light brown hair styled into a long ponytail with bangs covering her forehead, golden brown eyes, and clad in a red strapless one piece with matching heels was there smiling at him.

"Hi Syd…" Damien responded flatly.

**AN: I have a good number of chapters finished right now, but I;m gonna upload a new chapter maybe once a week. This is due to my recurring problem of writers block. So if You have any Ideas or input, it would be greatly appreciated. R&R please.**


	3. Just great

Chapter 3- Just great…

"What do you think of the new secretary?" she asked smiling.

Damien fell silent for a moment. Images of Eva briefly flashed through his mind. He felt himself grow a little hotter.

"She seems like a nice person…" he said simply.

Syd smirked at his remark.

"Really? Going by the way you ran in here and the giggling that followed, I'd say you think she's more that just "a nice person." She teased.

"Eddy said you needed me for something?" he said, attempting to change the subject.

"Relax, I'll get to that." She said nonchalantly. "Right now I want to check your skills and reaction time."

Damien arched an eyebrow at this.

"You wanna evaluate me, right now?" he asked uneasily.

"Yup, tomorrow you move into the academy and I wanna know if you're ready for it." She stared simply.

"Um, that's all well and good but doesn't your office seem a little small for this? He said looking around.

Although Syd's office was a lot larger than a typical cubical, the furniture and shelves would make using techniques a tad bit difficult. The large oak desk which held mounds of paperwork didn't help much either. Syd looked around and saw his point.

"Oh, don't worry we're not going to be doing anything extreme, just simple Karma channeling." She said reassuringly. She moved to the back of her desk and pulled out a medium sized burlap sack from underneath of it. She threw the sack to Damien who caught it cautiously. She proceeded to move the desk, shelves, and furniture up against the walls. Only leaving the back wall with the enormous window exposed, flooding the room with an enormous amount of sunlight and warmth.

She sat down on the carpet in front of Damien.

"Okay, this should do." She stated.

Damien felt a little less constricted now, but only a little. He eyed the sack suspiciously.

"What's in the bag Syd?" he inquired

"Take a look and see..." she responded.

He did as he was told and opened the bag. Inside he found a small mat, rocks, twigs, various threads and a small cow hide.

"Put all of them on the mat neatly please." She asked.

Damien organized the materials onto the mat in neat even piles. Then he looked at Syd for further instruction.

"Okay, this will be a fairly easy exercise" she began "I'm going to call out various items and objects and you will use the materials provided to you to construct them. Understand?" she concluded.

"Sounds easy enough…" Damien responded. He held his hands out over the materials. Swirls of silver energy began to flow around his hands. "Ready when you are." he said.

"Alright…" Syd answered.

She paused for about fifteen seconds or so,

"Katana."

Instantly the room flashed silver, and a very sharp Japanese katana was lying on the mat.

"Spear"

Another flash, this time long roman style spear appeared on the mat.

"Mace"

A slightly brighter flash came forth this time, and a small ball with spikes protruding form it and chained to a wooden handle appeared beside the other two.

"Bow and arrows"

The room flashed once more, and a very slender bow appeared on the mat accompanied by about 20 arrows tucked neatly into a leather quiver.

"Fireball"

No flash came this time; all that Damien offered was his middle finger to his master.

Syd howled with laughter.

"Oh come on sweetheart, it was funny!" she said still laughing.

Damien just glared at her. "You know as well as I do that won't be happening with me anytime soon..." he muttered slightly irritated. "Besides it's impossible to produce a fireball out of the materials you gave me." he added.

Syd instantly stopped laughing.

"Oh, really?" she smirked. She held out her hand and silver energy instantly began to flow into her palm. It swirled momentarily and erupted into a small ball of fire. Damien was perplexed.

"Um, how exactly did you do that?" he asked

"Easy" she said as she pointed her free hand at the window. "There was a reason I left the window unblocked when I moved the furniture." She paused for a moment to extinguish the fireball suspended in her hand. "If you would have finished E.M. training like everyone else did. You would have known that you could have used the thermal energy produced by the sun to create a simple fire ball…" she said, slightly disappointed.

`"Yeah….whatever" Damien responded, looking away.

"Sweetheart," Syd said warmly. "If you don't learn how to properly control Energy Manipulation, it _will _cause you problems during your stay at the academy." She warned.

"I'll cross that bridge when I come to it, ok?" Damien shot back.

Syd just sighed. She rose and began to put her furniture back into their original positions. When finished, she plopped down into her leather chair behind her desk. Damien took his seat in a chair in front her.

"On the plus side, using the cows hide to construct a quiver was a nice touch." She praised.

"Thanks…" Damien muttered.

"Now, for the real reason I called you here." Syd began.

Damien perked up at this.

"As you already know, tomorrow you start your first day at the academy. You will be staying in co-ed dormitories and facilities." She stated

Damien cringed at this little tid-bit.

"Now, you're supposed to be room mates with Edward…" She said, giving him a small amount of relief.

Damien wasn't fooled however.

"But?" he said suspiciously.

"I've made special arrangements for you to be room mates with a close friend's apprentice." She told him.

Damien thought for a moment. "Is it anybody I know in the village?" he inquired.

"No, they're from a different village, far to the east of here." She responded.

"Oh, okay then. I'm pretty sure I can teach them a couple of things." He said, arrogance noticeable in his voice.

"Um, I wouldn't be so sure of that…" Syd trailed off.

Damien raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

"Don't get me wrong," Syd defended "when it comes to materialization, you are exceptionally skilled. But your skills with energy manipulation are sort of…weak." She stated.

"Uh huh…" Damien looked away.

Syd continued. "My friend and his apprentice are completely different."

"How so?" Damien asked.

"Well," Syd paused to think of the words, "Unlike you, their skills with materialization are a little above average, but their energy manipulation is anything _but_ average…You could learn quite a bit from each other." she concluded.

Damien said nothing.

"I'm trusting you to be on your best behavior tomorrow Damien." Syd said with seriousness evident in her voice.

"Relax, I'll be nice to him…" he said simply.

"Oh, I forgot to mention. His apprentice is a girl..." she added

The color drained from Damien's face.

"Just great..." he muttered.

**AN: As usual, R&R to your hearts content. I had a lot of fun with the next chapter, and I really do hope you're amused by it. Chapter 4 is already finished, but I'm gonna wait until I'm completely done with chapter 5 to upload it. **

** Cheers**

**DormantDragon28**


	4. Calm before the storm

**AN: I enjoyed typing this chapter due to a certain scene**. **Let's see if you can guess which one I'm referring to...  
**

Chapter 4- Calm before the storm

"A girl?" Damien asked.

"That's right…a girl." Syd answered skeptically. "Is that gonna to be a problem?"

Damien didn't even hear the last question. Millions of things were racing through his head. For the next year or so he would be sharing his living arrangements with a female….a female! Besides his master, he had no other regular interaction with the opposite sex. And if he did (which you could probably tell during his encounter with Eva) those moments were awkward at best. If he couldn't bear the presence of a girl for a couple of seconds, how was he supposed to stand it for an entire year?

"Kid, are you alright?" Syd said, waving a hand in front of his face.

"I'm sorry…what did you say?" Damien asked, coming back to reality.

"I asked if you staying with a girl for a full year posed a problem." She repeated.

Damien's face was still discolored.

"I really don't know…" he said honestly.

"Um, excuse me?" Syd eyed him wearily. "You're telling me you still haven't gotten over that little shyness of yours yet?" she asked, eyebrow arched.

"It's complicated, okay?" Damien muttered

"Oh Damien, you'll be fine." Syd said reassuringly. "Edward was the same way at first, and now he's bringing home a new girl every week!" she stated proudly.

Damien was filled with mixed emotions at that statement. Mostly disgust but envy was lingering there as well.

"That's nothing to be proud of…" he said flatly.

"Maybe, maybe not. But one thing is for sure, he's gotten over his fear and shyness for girls." She looked at Damien, eyes full of sincerity for once. "You will too kid, just give it time." She finished.

Her words gave Damien a slight sense of comfort.

"Thanks Ma…" he said, breaking eye contact.

Syd's eyes shot open instantly.

"Whoa sweetheart…you actually called me "Ma" for once? She asked disbelievingly. "You really are scared aren't you?" she inquired.

Damien didn't answer; he just continued to look at a nearby book shelf. Syd just smiled.

"You'll be fine, now go home and get some rest. You, me, and Edward leave for the academy first thing tomorrow. You wouldn't wanna sleep through the first day would you?" she said, sarcasm returning to her voice.

"No, I really wouldn't." he rose heading towards the door.

"Ahem." A sound came from behind him. Damien turned around in response.

Syd was staring directly at him, gesturing to her cheek.

"Oh come on, do I really have to?" he wailed in protest.

"It's either this or the fireball…" she said plainly, silver energy already began flowing into her palm.

Damien's heart almost jumped out his chest. He jumped across the room, landed on the oak desk, pecked her on the cheek, and was out the door faster than he could materialize a katana.

Syd gave a small chuckle, and went back to her paperwork.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Damien walked slowly down the street towards his hut. One by one the villagers and street vendors were turning out their lights, signifying the day's end. Only, a few torches along the street were still lit, illuminating his path home. After about five or so minutes of walking, he finally arrived home. He walked up the steps of his home but paused at the door. A sound caught his attention.

Next door, a fast and steady bumping sound could be heard. For a moment Damien wondered what exactly the sound was, but the following sounds gave him his answer.

"Oh, by Karma's grace! Just like that Eddy!" shouted a female voice.

Damien cringed upon hearing this. He was well aware of Eddy's nightly exploits, but talking about them and actually hearing them were two different things. He quickly rushed into his home and locked the door. He went directly into the bathroom and performed his nightly ritual of showering, brushing his teeth, and changing into his night clothes. After finishing, he headed for is bedroom to retire for the night. Upon entering his room, small flashes of silver outside of his bedside window caught his eye.

All over the village, small flashes of silver emanated once or twice from every house and building in the village. Two flashes came from next door as well. But the brightest flash came from Syd's office. Damien caught on quick, he had almost forgotten to Purge.

Purging is the nightly obligation of each and every Libra. It flushes the body off all Karma temporarily to allow it to circulate back through the universe. It leaves a Libra a bit weary and unable to channel Karma for about fifteen minutes before Karma starts to flow back into their being. Failure to Purge carries the penalty of Karma forcefully and painfully escaping out of ones body, leaving them unable to purge for a week.

"Wow…" Damien said to himself. "_How embarrassing would it have been to get to the academy and find out that I can't even channel Karma…?"_ he thought.

Damien moved to center of his room and sat down, Indian-style. He closed his eyes and began to concentrate.

Instantly, silver wisp of energy began to swirl around him. It flowed in, out, and all around his being. Slowly, it all started to condense inside of him, giving his body an ethereal glow. Damien breathed in sharply for a second, and an explosion of silver energy burst forth from his body, illuminating his room like a flash of lightning. He finally exhaled feeling as though he had just repeated Syd's endurance training all over again.

He stood up wearily and plopped down into his bed. He glanced out of his window and stared at the stars, wondering if they would look the same where he would be at this time tomorrow. He closed his eyes and eventually drifted off into slumbers sweet embrace.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Eddy was lying on his side of the bed with a satisfied smile, staring at his sleeping blond companion with a slight smirk, naked features barely hidden by the creamy white sheets. She stirred slightly. He reached over with the intention of asking her if she was ready for another go, but the sound of something hitting the wall directly in front of his open window stopped him in his tracks.

He looked up to see an arrow impaling the wall with a small piece of paper attached to its shaft. He exited the bed carefully as not to wake his sleeping guest. He walked over to the arrow, plucked it from the wall, untied the piece of paper, and slowly began to read its contents. His face drained of all color as he instantly recognized the hand writing.

_Dear Edward,_

_Normally I wouldn't dare to attempt to stick my nose in your nightly business. But seeing as how you have a big day tomorrow, I strongly suggest you follow Damien's example and retire for the night…_

_With love,_

_Dear Old Ma'_

_P.S: If you have any doubt as to how serious I am, please steal a glance outside of your window…_

Eddy moved cautiously towards his bedside window, as he peered below the sight he saw killed any thoughts he had of not heeding the letters words.

Syd stood below, dressed in her trademark red night robe and slippers, holding a very large white hot fireball threateningly in the direction of his house. Upon making eye contact with her, he instantly saw the seriousness in her eyes.

Eddy threw his hands up in front of him in defeat instantly, slowly backing into house. As he did the glow emanating from the streets instantly vanished, followed by wisp of silver energy ascending into the night sky. He climbed into his side of the bed and instantly closed his eyes. The blond stirred, and woke up at this movement however.

"Eddy? Are you ready to go again?" She asked seductively.

Eddy's heartbeat quickened considerably.

"Um, I'm alright. Let's just go to bed okay?" he responded.

"You sure?" she inquired, a bit taken back.

"Positive…" he said, drifting off to sleep.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Seeing Eddy back into his house in defeat, Syd continued her walk in the direction of the village gates. Upon reaching them, two figures fell from nearby trees into a kneeling position behind her.

"How may we help you Grand Mistress?" the twins said in signature unison.

"I'm expecting company, have you seen anyone?" she asked, voice clear of any and all emotion.

The twins looked at each other.

"Parted jet black hair, pale complexion, and emerald green eyes? Max asked.

"Yeah, that's him." She responded.

"He 'ported in about half a click south of here, makin' his way here through the jungle. Want us to take him out?" Lance asked, voice deadly serious.

"That won't be necessary, he's friendly." Syd reassured them. "I need to speak with him alone, you're dismissed." She waved them off. Instantly the twins shot back into the trees. Syd stood there and waited.

After waiting about fifteen or so minutes a figure emerged from the jungle, dressed in a grey business suit and black leather trench coat. His face was devoid of all emotion. He walked towards the gates and stopped within arms reach of Syd.

"Hello Jericho." She greeted

"Nice to see you as well Syd" Jericho responded. He sized her up once, taking in her attire. "Isn't a bit chilly out here for that." He asked

"Nah, I don't plan on being out here long." She said nonchalantly. So, where's your apprentice?" she inquired.

"I left her back at the village; she has a big day tomorrow. I told her to catch some zees." He paused, looking around. "What's with all the random sand pits?" he asked curiously.

"Ah" she said, noticing just how many sand pits there were now. "Complements of _my _apprentice." She answered with a hint of pride in her voice.

"I see…" Jericho said simply. "Speaking of which, where is he?"

"Same as yours, resting up for tomorrow."

"Great minds think alike…" Jericho said flatly.

"Indeed they do." Syd agreed.

"Now, I highly doubt that you called me out here to catch up." Jericho said seriously.

Syd smiled at his trademark impatience.

"You're right; let me get to the point." She paused, looking in the direction of the jungle. A slight rustle disturbed the silence. As if on cue, an arrow silently shot into the jungle from a nearby tree. A loud growl from a black panther told them it hit its mark.

"It's about our apprentices." She continued.

"If I'm not mistaken, you had their rooming arrangements changed. Am I correct?"

"Yes, for good reason." She stated.

"And that would be…?" Jericho asked impatiently.

"I feel the two would learn quite a bit from each other. Damien wont even go near energy manipulation, and Deimos wont go near people in general." She explained.

"I don't ever recall having friends to be a necessity for becoming a great Libra." Jericho defended.

"I don't know… I seem to remember saving_ your_ ass a good number of times." Syd said slyly.

Jericho paused for a moment. "How do you know she will even help him?" he asked consenting.

"Well, you _are _her master…" she stated simply

Jericho stared at her with an icy glare.

"You're asking for another "favor" aren't you…?" he asked gloomily.

"Yup yup Jerry-boy, and you do still owe me."

He flinched at the casual use of his nickname.

"Fine, but in return I get to grind energy manipulation into his skull…" he said darkly.

"Go ahead, he'll enjoy the challenge." Syd said with a smile.

Jericho turned around and headed back in the direction of the jungle.

"Jerry…" Syd called from behind him.

Jericho turned in her direction and raised an eyebrow.

"Thank you…" she said sincerely.

Jericho just gave her a nod, and in a flash of silver he was gone.

Syd stared at the starry sky thinking silently to herself.

"_You better not let me down Damien…"_

**AN: Yo yo yo! What did ya think? I have a couple of chapters finished already, but I'm a little stomped in deciding which direction to take this story in. As always, R&R.**


	5. Preparation

Chapter 5- Preparation

Damien had just passed the final exams of the Libra Academy; the judges reviewed his performance and unanimously awarded him top marks. He was as happy as could be. The only way this moment could be better was if…

"Damien?" someone tugged on his hand.

Damien turned around to stare into a pair of deep green eyes; the scent of cherry blossoms instantly overwhelmed his senses.

"Eva?" Damien answered.

She was donning a gorgeous black dress with a low collar and high slit up the side, leaving little to the imagination.

"I have something to give you…" she whispered to him.

Damien's heart threatened to jump out of his very chest.

"You do?" he asked anxiously.

She let loose a slight giggle.

"Yes, think of it as a sort of congratulatory gift…" she whispered leaning in.

Damien leaned in attempting to seal the space between their lips.

But the moment never came…

"Are you serious?" Eva asked backing away.

"What?" he responded, massively confused.

"He can't be serious…" she repeated.

"Huh?" Damien said, dumbstruck.

Everything began to fade to black. The crowd, the judges, Eva, everything…

Only a faint voice could be heard in the darkness:

"By de grace of Karma! You're such a dork!"

A blast of water completely drenched Damien where he lay dreaming. His eyes shot open and he instantly sprung out of bed onto the floor, taking his covers with him, and breathing very heavily. He looked around his room and instantly spotted the two perpetrators.

"Oh for Karma's sake! Dat was hilarious!" Eddy screamed rolling around the bedroom floor.

Syd was leaning up against the bedroom door holding an empty bucket and looking slightly embarrassed.

"I'm sorry sweetheart but you were in a _very _deep sleep…" she muttered, not making eye contact. Eddy however was still howling with laughter.

"You were all like "Eva?" and shit bruh, you popped a boner and everything!" he wailed, pointing to Damien's crouch.

Damien went scarlet as he saw what Eddy was pointing at. A noticeable tent in his sheets could still be seen. He instantly covered himself with a nearby pillow.

"How long have you guys been here?" He asked, desperate to change the subject.

"Long enough…" Syd responded, finally making eye contact... "We came over to wake you up, be we stumbled upon something…unexpected." She explained, trailing off towards the end.

Damien was perplexed at her words.

"Since when do you need to wake…" he stopped and thought about it for a moment. His eyes widened. It hit him like a dozen of Syd's fireballs.

"The Academy! Today's the first day!" He yelled.

Syd and Eddy just exchanged glances.

"No shit Sherlock…" they said in unison.

"What time is it?" Damien asked, panic evident in his voice. Syd stole a glance at her wrist watch.

"Almost six thirty." She responded, no sense of urgency in her voice whatsoever. However, her answer sent Damien over the edge.

"SIX THIRTY!? We're supposed to be there at seven! We're gonna be late, I haven't even packed yet!" Damien's anxiety levels at the moment were unreal.

Eddy smirked. "You should have packed last night and went to sleep like me, I slept so well afterwards. No distractions at all."

Damien arched an eyebrow after hearing that.

"No distractions huh? Because the only thing you did last night was organize your "package" right?" Damien scoffed.

Eddy's face went pale. Syd struggled to hold back a laugh.

"Yeah, shut the fuck up..." Damien muttered.

"Relax, Damien. I gathered your luggage and sent them to the academy ahead of time. Just get dressed, eat some breakfast and I can 'port us over." Syd explained, giving Damien an immeasurable sense of relief.

"Thanks…" he breathed.

"Don't worry about it, just be ready to go in twenty minutes." She turned to leave, but stopped.

"Oh, and Damien?"

"Yes?" He answered cautiously.

"I'll tell Eva you said hello…" she finished, slightly chuckling. Eddy burst into laughter again.

"My ribs hurt! I'm gonna die…again!"

"OUT! BOTH OF YOU!" Damien bellowed.

Syd and Eddy left the house laughing.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

A lone girl was sitting in the middle of a very dark room. A small candle provided a very dim source of light. Her eyes were closed. Sweat mapped, jet black, shoulder length hair clung to her head. Her black gi was also clinging to her. Despite her exhausted appearance, her breathing was slow and steady. The room was silent.

Her eyes flashed open, revealing glowing silver orbs radiating from her sockets. The candle had gone from a flicker to a colossal white orb that engulfed almost the entire room. It lit up the room like a sustained flash of lightning. Furniture, mats, books and various other objects were thrown against the wall in response to the raw power of the white hot mass of destruction. Yet despite this, the orb was soundly contained, gently suspended in the air. The caster let out a small sigh, and allowed the orb of power to gently disperse back into its previous form. The candle once again gave the room a dim eyes slowly lost their silvery glow and reverted to an ice blue look.

A man donning a black suit appeared out of the shadows. His voice was even, but had a tint of pride in it.

"Impressive as always…"

The caster turned around to meet him

"Thank you master…" She responded.

The man walked around the room taking note of the various books and furniture that were overturned.

"You should stop for now. You're reaching your limits…"

"I can keep going, that previous orb was nothing…" she muttered.

The man smiled at this.

"I'm fully aware that you can keep going, hell, you could probably nuke this entire complex if you tried. I just don't want you tiring out before we even reach the academy."

"Fine…" she said evenly.

He picked up an overturned chair and sat down in it.

"Now I want you to know something very important before we leave…"

She perked up at his words.

"Yes?"

"Due to some strings being pulled, you will no longer be in a solo dorm room at the academy."

"Why is this?" she asked with disappointment in her voice.

"You remember that friend of mine I told you about?"

"Yes."

"Well, she thought it would be a good idea to have you and her apprentice to share the same room for your year at the academy. She believes that you could learn a few things from each other." He said, slightly amused.

"Can he produce a nova-class pyrosphere?" she inquired.

"No."

"Can he freeze an entire water fall in under a minute?"

"Nope."

"Can he expel all of the air from a room to create a vacuum effect?"

"Not yet."

"Is he capable of any degree of Energy Manipulation?"

"Not even the slightest."

She paused for minute. Then she asked her last question.

"Exactly what am I supposed to be learning from him?" She asked with irritation evident in her voice.

"He does have one redeeming quality…" he muttered.

"And that is?"

"Based on what I've been told, he has affinity for Materialization the likes of which my friend has never seen before."

She wasn't impressed at all.

"Any common thug can make a sword…"

"Oh, yes I know. But if he just made swords I wouldn't be letting him share your living arrangements now would I?" He asked rhetorically.

"Then what _can _he do master?" she inquired.

"Well, he jumped from a five hundred foot cliff and survived without so much of scratch…" he answered.

She instantly perked up upon hearing that.

"How? If he couldn't even use Energy Manipulation to lessen the speed of his fall, how is he even still alive? She asked astonished.

He chuckled slightly.

"From what I saw, it appears he threw himself full force over the edge, hung in free fall for a full minute, and converted the ground into sand at the last minute to absorb the impact of his fall."

She was dumbstruck

"That is _extremely _reckless…" she said, stating the obvious.

"Yes it is, but seeing as how there was more than one patch of sand at the village gate, he probably has had practice with that little stunt of his…"

She thought about his words for a moment.

"Okay, even if he's highly adept at materialization, what good is he if can't even perform the slightest degree of energy manipulation." She asked

Her master looked at her for a moment, and a smile slowly crept up his face.

"And that's why you're going to be his roommate for a full year." He stated simply.

Her eyes instantly shot open at this realization.

"Please don't tell me I'm supposed to tutor this guy in energy manipulation for an entire year…" her voice was deadly serious.

"Fine, I won't tell you." He smirked.

She really didn't find him amusing at the moment.

"Last time I checked, I was going to the academy to further my _own _abilities. Not play teacher to some guy that can't even use energy manipulation." Although her face was stoic and showed no emotion, her tone and voice delivered an entire world of annoyance. This was unusual for her, who was usually so calm, cool, and collected in pretty much every imaginable situation.

"Look, this may not be such as bad after all my young apprentice, he needs help with energy manipulation and you would do well to enjoy someone else's company for once."

She was a bit taken back at this.

"I don't ever recall having friends being a necessity to become a great Libra..." she muttered.

He threw his head back in laughter at the exact recitation of his own words. His apprentice was baffled, and appropriately arched her eyebrow at his display.

"Did I say something funny?"

"No, not at all." He said while recovering his composure. "Just take it on good faith ok?"

"I'm not making any promises…" she muttered

"And I wasn't asking…"

The room went cold as the two glared at each other.

"Fine….whatever."

"Thank you…"

He stood up and tossed a small duffle bag to her. As he headed for the door he gave her one final order.

"Get changed, we leave in twenty minutes."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Damien left his house dressed in his full Libra Academy uniform: A black button down shirt with silver tie, khakis, freshly shined black leather dress shoes, and a black blazer. Upon bidding a silent farewell to his place of residence, he took off in the direction of his master's office. As made his way up the streets of the market district, many of the village's residence gave him a silent nod or thumbs up upon after seeing his attire. When he reached his master's office building he took a deep breath and went inside.

His senses were instantly ambushed by cherry blossoms….

"Hello Mr. Cross." Eva greeted in a cheerful tone.

"Uh…hi Eva." He responded, trying not to make eye contact with her.

Eva didn't respond as she was too busy taking in Damien's attire.

"Well aren't you looking gorgeous today?"

Damien was caught off guard at her compliment, and his face went bright red in response.

"T-thank you…you also look very pretty as well." He said, slightly stammering.

"Aww! Thank you! Hey, you're off to the academy right? I'm sure that by the time you're done, you'll be an amazing Libra."

"I hope so…" Damien said, all the while blushing at her words.

"I know so Mr. Cross…" she gave him a wink.

Damien's heart jumped into his throat at this gesture. All he could do was nod like a scarlet fool.

"Now, the Grand Mistress and your friend have been waiting for you, go right in."

"Thank you…" he turned and headed for the door.

"Oh, and Mr. Cross?"

Damien stopped on the spot and turned around slowly.

"Y-yes, Eva?"

She put two fingers to her lips and blew him a kiss.

"Good luck…"

And that was the straw that broke the camels back, Damien made a rush for the door and once again slammed it shut, a giggling sound could again be heard from the other side.

"Bruh, have _got _to work on ya suave…"

Damien recovered his cool at once, and turned around.

Syd was sitting in her chair, while Eddy was sitting in one in one of Syd's chairs also donning the academy uniform.

"Yo." He waved two fingers at Damien.

"Yo." Damien responded, only waving one.

"Now, Damien let's not get testy." Syd said in mock sincerity.

"Whatever, when can we leave?" Damien asked hastily.

"In a minute, I want to say something to the both of you first."

Damien and Eddy both exchanged glances.

"When we get to the academy, you two will be on your own…" her voice was void of emotion. "I won't be able to look out for you anymore, no more private lessons, no more swooping in to save you when you're in trouble, no more playing mommy to the two of you…"

Damien and Eddy just looked at her.

"The academy is your proving grounds, in a manner of speaking. You will have to prove to yourselves and your peers that you can take any test, any obstacle, anything that might impede your progress and dish it out one hundred fold. Do you understand?"

"Yes Master." they both responded.

"Even though I am Libra Grand Mistress, I may not interfere with the workings of the academy under any circumstances unless it is a situation of grave importance. So should something happen to you, _I _will not be the one to come to your aid. You either resolve it yourself, each other, or just submit to it."

"Submission is not an option." The both said in unison.

"No it is not. And you will do well to always remember that. Now what are the two most important lessons I've taught you?"

"Don't drop the brick?" Damien asked.

"Cute…" she rolled her eyes. "Now I'll ask again, what are the two most important lessons I've ever taught you?" she repeated.

"The only direction is forward." They said in perfect unison.

"And?"

"Should something impede our movement in that direction, it will be cast aside." They finished.

"Perfect…" she wiped a tear from her eye. She rose from her desk and stood beside her two students. "Now we really should get going…" She channeled a bit of karma into her palm and threw it into her office door. In a matter of seconds in changed from an oak door into an archway of pure light.

"Now gentle men, let us take the first steps down your path to becoming a Libra…."

And with that, they disappeared into the light…

**AN: OoOoOoOoOoOo! Mysterious!!! Will the gang arrive safely at the academy? Who was that insanely powerful caster? Can Damien grow out of his awkwardness aroundf Eva!? Tune in next week for another installment of possibly the most unknown story on ....KARMA'S KEEPER!!!**


	6. First Impressions

Chapter 6- First impressions

As they stepped through the portal they were engulfed by a blinding light. Damien felt like his entire being was being squeezed and condensed. It was as if a massive hand was gripping his very soul. But this feeling had disappeared just as quickly as it had come. The next moment, the blinding light faded and he felt himself landing on a smooth brick road surrounded by a dense forest. Damien and Eddy both looked out of breath.

"Um, what just happened?" Eddy wheezed.

"I teleported us to the academy…." Syd stated simply.

"No, not that. What was that pressure and constriction we felt?" Damien panted.

Syd put her finger to her lips and thought for a moment. She snapped her finger when it hit her.

"Oh! Now that I think about it that was your very first teleportation wasn't it?"

"Yeah, it kinda was Ma'…" Eddy stated a bit flatly.

"I'm sorry Edward. You see, because I do it so often I don't really feel the little squeezing sensation that you two just felt."

Damien was growing impatient.

"That's nice and all master, but could you please tell us exactly why we feel like we just ran six miles!?" he said while still panting.

"Geez, don't get pop a vein kid." She said nonchalantly. "In order to teleport across large distance, like we just did, we have to temporarily "join" with the Karma matrix." She explained.

"Um, so we were basically just converted into Karma and traveled through de Karma matrix to arrive here?" Eddy asked

"Basically." She answered.

"And the constriction feeling was our entire body being converted and compressed into Karma?" Damien cut in.

"Precisely."

"Master?"

"Yes Damien darling?"

"Could you warn us next time!?" he screamed.

"Well, there won't be a next time."

Damien was confused.

"Why not?" he asked

Syd smiled at his question.

"The next time you two teleport, it will be by using your own abilities, not mine."

Her two apprentices went wide eyed.

"For real?" they asked in unison.

"For real…" she answered. "It would be a bit of a disappointment if during the entire year you two stay here you don't learn something as basic as teleporting…"

"Speaking of staying here, wasn't their supposed to be some big tower or something? I don't see anything." Eddy said, looking around.

"Behind you Edward." She pointed.

Eddy and Damien turned around instantly. They were met with a sight they've never seen before. A massive tower stood at the end of the brick road they were on. Even though Syd teleported them about half a click from the base of the tower, they still couldn't see the top of it.

"Woah…" they both said in unison.

'Pretty big huh?" she said, taking in the nostalgic sight.

"Yeah, I just hope I don't get lost…" Damien muttered.

Syd's Eyes instantly snapped open at his words.

"Ooo! That reminds me, I have a gift for the two of you…" she reached into her pocket and retrieved two small, black, jewelry boxes. She tossed one to each of her students.

"What this?" Edward asked, sizing up the small black box.

"Open it up and see…" she responded simply.

They both opened their boxes to find a medium-sized diamond earring within. They looked like ordinary diamond earrings with the exception of the faint silver glow they gave off. Eddy saw this and took a closer look. The faint glow seemed to be coming from inside of the diamonds, where a small swirling silver mist could be seen.

"Is dat…..Karma?" Eddy asked.

"It sure is." Syd smiled.

"Why?" Damien asked, awestruck.

"These are not normal earrings my young apprentices, these are very special earrings that I made myself. I infused them with Karma to give them special… properties." She stated.

"What kind of properties" Damien asked cautiously.

"Put them on, and channel a little Karma through them." She instructed.

Both of her apprentices put the earrings in their left ears and closed their eyes momentarily.

_"I wonder if it gives us super hearing or something…" _

Damien smiled.

"Yeah, super hearing…riiight." He scoffed.

Eddy's eyes instantly shot open.

"Um, bruh?"

"Yeah Eddy?"

"I didn't say dat…" Eddy muttered.

Damien's eyes also shot open.

"What do you mean you didn't say that? I heard you say: "I wonder if it gives us super hearing or something"".

I kinda did say it…just in my head."

They both instantly turned to face their master. Damien was the one to ask what they were both thinking.

"What exactly do these earrings do?"

A grin crept up Syd's face.

"Relax, you're not going crazy. You actually did hear Edward's thoughts."

"So…the earrings allow us to read people's minds?" Damien asked.

"Not exactly, the earrings allow you to hear the thoughts of anyone who is channeling Karma while wearing the other earring. It also acts like a beacon when one of you is in trouble. If one of you is in a pinch, the other earring will start to emit a red glow, and allow you to hone in on the other one."

"So we can always contact each other…right?"

"Precisely, you two will need to look out for each other while you're here. I'm pretty sure there are more than a couple arrogant brats who want to take on the Grand Mistress's apprentices. Trust no one, suspect everyone. Do you understand?" she finished.

"Yes Master." They said in unison.

Now let's go. It'll look really bad if The Grand Mistress and her two apprentices are late for registration."

They started to make their way down the brick road. As they did, other trainees and their masters began teleporting in as well. When they caught sight of Syd, they all instantly bowed or dropped to their knees. Time after time, Syd would have tell the occasional passerby to arise.

"I had no idea that you were so important…" Damien whispered.

"Yeah, being Grand Mistress is a really important responsibility." She said nonchalantly.

"Really? Everyone else in our village doesn't act so formal around you."

"These people here only know me by my title alone, so they automatically assume that because I am the Libra Grand Mistress that they are required to bow in my presence."

"Well...are they?" Eddy asked.

"Normally yes, it's been that way with Grand Masters and Mistresses since the beginning of time." She sighed. "But I really don't think its necessary…"

They walked in silence for the remainder of the path to the academy. When they finally reached the massive front gate of the tower Syd stopped and let out very exasperated sigh.

"Something wrong?" Damien inquired.

"Yeah, I hate this part…" she muttered.

Damien and Eddy traded glances.

"What pa-"

A very loud voice boomed through the compound, cutting off Damien in the process.

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! I'M AM PROUD TO ANNOUNCE THE ARRIVAL OF TONIGHTS HONORED GUEST! INTRODUCING THE GRAND MISTRESS OF THE LIBRAS, OUR GRACEFUL LEADER, THE ONE AND THE ONLY: SYDDARTHA KARISHKA!!!"

"I'm gonna kill Joseph…" she hissed.

The massive gates swung open and hundreds of people provided a thunderous applause that welcomed the three into academy. A balding, portly man, dressed in a gray business suit jogged out to meet them.

_"And who is this fatass?" Damien thought quietly to himself. _Eddy struggled to stifle a laugh, having picked up on that particular though.

"Grand Mistress! It is an honor to see you again!" he yelled. He seized her hand and began kissing it frantically. Syd struggled to reclaim her hand.

"Joseph…I told you that these elaborate introductions every year _really _aren't needed…"

"Nonsense, Grand Mistress, it is always an honor and a privilege to have you grace the academy with your presence each and every year. And as such we must introduce you appropriately!" his face was ablaze with joy. He noticed two figures out of the corner of his eye and spun around to meet them. "And what have we here?" his curiosity could be seen as plain as day.

"My apprentices…" she said uneasily.

"Oh! So these are your two apprentices! It is a pleasure to finally meet the disciples of the Grand Mistress. I assume this muscular, young, fellow here with the magnificent hair is Master Damien and the slightly less muscular and shorter one here with the cool spiky hair is Master Edward?"

As Eddy was practically blushing himself to death due to the bombardment of compliments, Damien decided to speak up instead.

"Um…actually sir, I am Damien and my friend here is Edward." He said, trying his best not to sound disrespectful.

"Oh! Excuse my mistake dear boy!" he said, blushing like a fool.

"Um sir, I don't mean to sound disrespectful but…who exactly are you?" Damien inquired.

"Oh Heavens! Please forgive my rudeness again my dear boy. Where are my manners today?" he cleared his throat. "I am Judge-class Libra Joseph Gabrahnth, and I will be acting as your…headmaster during your stay here." He stated proudly.

"So, shall I address you as Judge Gabrahnth then, sir?" Damien asked with humbleness coating his voice like honey.

"No no my dear boy, that won't be necessary. Just Headmaster if you will. That other title is reserved for enemies and co-workers only." He said chuckling.

_"What enemies? Inhabitants of da food pyramid?"_

Damien accidently let loose a snort at his friends thought, which was immediately picked up by the headmaster.

"Something wrong dear boy?" he asked perplexed.

"No, nothing. Just a bit of dust." He lied.

"Oh, very well then. I do think you should go and get registered. It would be a tad bit embarrassing if you stayed here for an entire year, only to find out that you weren't registered and are consequently unable to receive your license as a Libra!" he threw his head back and roared with laughter. However, that particular scenario was anything but funny to the two apprentices.

"Um master?" they both said in trademark unison.

"Yes, Headmaster Gabrahnth is correct. Go and get registered. " She pointed to the foyer of the academy where dozens of people at desk were distributing papers to an unreal number of people in their respective lines. "The Headmaster and I need to have a discussion regarding _unnecessary _announcements_…" _Her gaze fell to the Headmaster, and he instantly saw the silent rage hidden in it.

"Oh dear…" he murmured.

Damien and Eddy instantly took off in the direction of the foyer.

"It was a pleasure meeting you headmaster!" they shouted as were rushing through the front gates.

"Same here!" he yelled back jovially. As he did, he felt an iron grip close around his shoulder. He looked up to see the Grand Mistress smiling at him. He wasn't fooled for a minute.

"Come Joseph. We have much to talk about…"

"Oh dear…" he murmured.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

When Damien and Eddy arrived at the foyer they were astounded to see exactly how big it was. The foyer looked as if it could fit a good part of their village in there no problem. A faculty member wielding a megaphone-like object instantly caught their attention though.

"All Libra's who have not registered must proceed to the appropriate lines based on their last name!" she yelled. "A through D at this table, E through H here, I through L over their and so on!" she pointed at each table.

Damien and Eddy moved towards the first mentioned table. As they got in line a rowdy looking pair of trainees appeared behind them.

"Hey Jack, I heard that the Grand Mistress herself is here!" one said

"Yeah, I know. I hear she brought her apprentices also…" he said nonchalantly.

"I wonder if they're strong. Ya know? They _are_ the Grand Mistresses apprentices after all."

"Pssh, don't get your hopes up Ben. People who are close to people with serious power usually lack their own. They're pussies most of the time." He sneered.

Had the two of them been paying attention to the ones in front of them, they would have noticed them balling their fists…rather tightly.

"Next person!" the attendant called. Everyone in line moved forward one space.

"Yeah, you're right. Most of the time they can't even do something as simple as Energy Manipulation!"

"I know right!?" Jack agreed.

A noticeable vein could be seen pulsating from Damien's temple at that last remark.

_"Chill bruh..." _Eddy's voice muttered in his head.

"Next person!" the attendants' voice sounded again. Damien and Eddy were almost up.

"I heard they're pretty tiny as well, easy pickings for the rest of us…easy pickings.

"I really want to meet her students; I bet we could teach them a thing or two."

"Yeah, they probably don't even deserve to be the Grand Mistress's apprentices. "We could totally _own_ them." Jack sneered.

Damien whipped around to face the two.

"You're talking about the Grand Mistress's students right?" Damien asked.

The two sized him up for a moment.

"Yeah…?" Jack answered skeptically.

"I bet those two are probably the last people you'd expect them to be huh?"

"Yeah! I heard they're really weak! Easy pickings right?"

"Sir? You're up." The attendant said.

"Oh, one moment dude." Damien said cheerfully.

"First name?" the attendant asked.

"Damien."

"Last name?"

"Cross."

"Mentor?"

"Siddhartha Karishka."

Everyone in the immediate area instantly froze. All eyes were on Damien.

"S-say again sir?" the attendant stammered.

"The Grand Mistress…" Damien said simply.

"Um, okay." She entered his info into her terminal and produced a key from her desk drawer.

"Here's your dorm key, your stuff should already be up there. You are in room 217"

"Thank you very much."

Damien waited calmly beside the attendant's desk for his friend, not caring the least bit about the dozens of eyes watching his every move…

"Name sir?" the she asked.

"Edward"

"Last name?"

"Doussaint"

"Mentor?"

"Grand Mistress Karishka." He said simply.

As he said that, everyone's attention shifted from Damien to Eddy. A noticeable amount of girls fainted where they stood. The ones that didn't faint were drooling…quite heavily.

The attendant just stared at him with a blank expression on her face.

"Um, miss?" he asked concerned.

She snapped back to reality and quickly entered his information into the database. She began to rummage through the drawer with a sense of urgency and within' seconds produced his key.

"You are in room 216"

"Thank you very much miss." He said

The attendant began to blush at his formality.

"Call me Kathryn…" she said looking away.

"Oh, my mistake. Thank you very much Miss Kathryn…" he said slyly.

Kathryn's pulse quickened immensely with that. She needed him to leave right that instant, on fear she wouldn't be able to maintain her composure.

"NEXT PLEASE!" she yelled a little louder than before.

Eddy simply smiled at the red-headed attendant and proceeded to move on. As he made his way to Damien he noticed that a fairly large number of male trainees were either shooting him dirty looks or making threatening gestures. These people didn't bother Eddy in the slightest however.

Damien and Eddy started to head for the stairway leading to the dormitories. As they passed the two trainees who were behind them, Damian only muttered two words…

"Easy pickings…"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Having registered a little over an hour ago, a blue eyed raven haired girl was meditating beneath a nearby waterfall. She had left behind her academy uniform in exchange for a white silk gown that accentuated every one of her curves. She wasn't moving a muscle. From afar, one would assume that she was dead where she sat.

Then with a quick upward jerk of her head, her eyes flashed silver. A blinding burst of Karma rushed out of her body, engulfing the entire waterfall. When the light receded, the waterfall was no longer descending upon her. She was encased in a massive glacier of ice, with only a bubble in the center providing her shelter. She slowly rose from her sitting position and exhaled very softly. She walked forward, melting the ice in front of her with every step she took. As she exited the glacier she turned around to admire her work.

There was no sound of flowing water, no sound emanating from the massive structure of ice whatsoever. She harvested the sun's rays to forms a small crimson orb in her hand. Once fully formed she tossed it down the tunnel she made moments earlier. As she turned to leave the area, a tremendous explosion followed a split second later. The pillar of ice returned to its original form and the sound of flowing water accompanied it.

As she leapt from tree to tree, a number of things were going through her mind. Can the academy really teach her anything she doesn't already know? Will her constant training benefit her or just alienate her form the rest of the other trainees? Can she endure an entire year with some dude that likes to hurl himself off cliffs for fun? A slight smile crept up her face at the last thought.

_"Ah yes, the Grand Mistress's apprentice…I wonder if he really is all that he's hyped up to be. If he's stupid enough to leap off mountains without even completing energy manipulation training, who knows what else he'll attempt during his stay here."_

Her pace slowed from quick leaps to more along the lines of gliding.

_"Now that I actually think about it, I haven't actually met him. My master gave me no picture of what he looks like whatsoever. Besides the little tid-bits of information he divulges during our sessions, I haven't the slightest idea of who he actually is…"_

She stopped on a tree branch two hundred or so yards away from the academy and sat down.

"Whatever…" she yawned. "I'll deal with that particular problem when I come to it. I have a couple of hours until the actual ceremony begins, I need some rest." She leaned up against the trunk of the tree and closed her eyes. The distant sounds of the forest and the feeling of the warm sun on her skin slowly lulled her to sleep.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Syd, stretched out on the headmaster's sofa, was inspecting her nails.

"So I take it I won't have to worry about any more elaborate introductions?"

Gabrahnth rubbed his head where a noticeable goose egg could be seen.

"No Grand mistress, not any more…" he said sheepishly

"Good" she said pleased "Now how have you been James?"

"Um, I've been alright. A few officers have been misbehaving every now and then, but nothing too serious." He sounded quite bored.

"You sound unfulfilled."

The headmaster glanced in her direction momentarily.

"In a sense I am." He said dryly.

"Why?" she inquired?

He leaned back in his desk chair.

"Life just hasn't been the same since the end of the Soul Crusades…"

Syd perked up at his confession.

'Now don't get me wrong, I'm glad all of that meaningless fighting and squabbling is over and done with…"

"But?" she asked, seeing right through him.

"The crusades just had that sense of "thrill" and "adventure" that I haven't been able to find anywhere else."

"Well, I could always off a couple thousands souls and see what happens…" she said nonchalantly.

The headmasters pulse immediately quickened.

"That's not funny." he said, deadly serious.

"I know" she glared back at him. "If you want some "thrill" and "adventure" go rock climbing or something of that sort. But the crusades are over…and I'm seeing to it that nothing like that ever starts again." She said firmly.

The headmaster let out a long sigh.

"Now that I look back on it, I'm perfectly happy with my desk job here…"

Syd smirked.

"You don't say…"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Damien and Eddy emerged from the long spiral staircase onto the twelfth floor where rooms 200 through 299 could be found. They walked a bit down the hall until they came to their respective rooms. A note was taped to each of their doors.

Room 217

-Damien Cross

-Deimos Ducleif

"This is my room…" Damien stated. "Deimos huh? That's a nice name. I wonder if she's already here."

Eddy turned to face his own room.

Room 216

-Edward Doussaint

-Patricia Connors

"And dis is mine. Patricia? Sounds sexy…" He said smoothly.

"Wow, you haven't even met the chick, and you're already trying to figure out how to get into her pants." Damien scoffed.

"I just wanna get to know her. I mean, we _will_ be sharing dis room for a whole year." His mind was already ablaze with the possibilities.

"Getting to _know _a chick means something completely different with you…" Damien said darkly.

"I have no idea what ya are talking about…anyway, ya think it's a coincidence dat our rooms are right across de hall from each other?" Eddy asked skeptically.

Damien chuckled.

"Not in the least, probably more strings being pulled, complements of Syd…"

"Probably." Eddy agreed. "Well, I'm gonna go check out my new home until da ceremony starts. I'll catch ya later." He waved.

"Yeah, see you later." They both entered their rooms and shut the doors.

"Woah…"

The first thing Damien noticed upon entering the room was exactly how big it was. From the door you could see the living room, where pair of comfortable looking chairs and a sofa was positioned around a large oak coffee table. Beyond the living room were two French doors that gave way to the balcony. Strangely though, the doors were open, almost as if the doors had recently been used. He walked out into the balcony and took in the wonderful view.

The vast forest could be seen below, with occasional clearings dotting it. A magnificent waterfall could be seen in the distance, although it seemed slightly calmer than usual. A couple of miles beyond that, he saw a number of buildings and structures that he assumed was a nearby town or something. And best of all, a clear blue sky that spanned as far as the eye could see.

_"Awesome..." _he though.

He headed back into the dorm room; he noticed two pathways branching off from the living room. He took the path on the left and discovered that it led to a fully stocked and supplied kitchen. Various pots, pans, and cookware could be found in the cupboards. When he opened the refrigerator, he was very pleased to find that it was fully stocked as well. Inside it held an assortment of meats, cheeses, fruits, vegetables and refreshments. All of which looked incredibly fresh.

He exited the kitchen and returned to the living room. He headed down the second hallway and reached the bedroom. The room was pretty symmetrical. Two queen sized beds, two nightstands, two dressers, two closets, and two desks for studying. He was happy to find his suitcase and bags waiting on top of one of the beds for him.

However, the contents of the other bed caught his attention. On top of the other bed was an assortment of clothes. A black longed sleeve blouse, a silver tie mirroring his own, a black and grey plaid skirt, black knee high socks, and black leather shoes. All of which looked as if they were just thrown onto the bed.

_"These probably belong to my roommate…But where exactly is she? And why are her clothes here?" _he though.

He looked around the room for his roommates bags, to no avail.

"_She couldn't be waltzing around here naked…could she?_

Damien's face became bright red at the thought and he quickly brought himself back to reality.

"Anyways, I should probably put my stuff away." He concluded.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

She slowly awoke from her slumber, taking special care not to fall off of the branch in her drowsiness. After stretching out for a couple minutes she took off in the direction of the academy. She moved between the trees so quickly it as almost as if she was flying. About 50 feet from the tower, she gave a massive leap off of a tree branch. Karma could briefly be seen around her ankles as she soared upward. She swiftly ascended about 10 stories until she began to slow down. But even though her momentum was slowing, there was no indication that she was to start falling soon. She slowly rose to a nearby balcony, and silently entered her home.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Alright…that should be the last of it."

In only 5 minutes Damien had completely turned his generic and bland side of the room into his own cozy little home away from home. Clothes were in dressers, books were on shelves, and various pictures of Eddy, Syd, and himself dotted the walls. Everything looked neat and organized, with the exception of the pile of clothes on the other bed. Damien just stared at the pile for a moment.

_"I know it's none of my business, but…what's the harm in putting a few more clothes away?" _He contemplated.

Damien began to fold his roommate's uniform piece by piece. He put the folded clothes into the drawer near the bedside. As he was folding her skirt, a flurry of scents invaded his nostrils. A sweet yet creamy scent gently overtook his senses. Out of the corner of his eyes he saw something shiny peeping out from underneath of his roommates shirt. As he grew closer to his roommate's shirt, the smell grew closer as well. It reminded him freshly made vanilla custard. He brushed the shirt away to reveal a black lace bra.

Damien's face instantly went scarlet.

He silently examined the bra for a couple moments, making notes of it in his mind.

_"Black, lace, smells like vanilla, c-cup?!"_

A knock at the door instantly ripped his attention away from the seductive looking lingerie.

A raven haired girl in a silk robe, that did nothing to hide her curves, could be seen from the door. Eyes as blue as ice were gazing into his very soul. The deep crimson color that occupied his face a mere moment ago was nowhere to be seen.

"Could you kindly put my bra down?" Her voice was null and devoid of anything resembling emotion.

Even though Damien couldn't find the smallest trace of a aggression in her voice, he could see a murderous aura dripping from her body…her very nice body might he add.

He had only felt a fear like this one other time, and decided to respond appropriately.

_"Fuck…"_

**AN: This chapter took me roughly 2 weeks to draft up, edit, proofread, edit, and fine tune…edit. So in return….could you kindly Rate and Review?**

**-DormantDragon28**


	7. The Good, the Bad, the Crazy

**A/N: Props to my friend SKG and Andrew for supporting this little story. And that ****one ****review means so much to me… (wipes away tear). And without further delay, I present…**

Chapter 7- The Good, the Bad, the Crazy

Every inch of Damien's body was telling him to run. Yet oddly, the ice blue orbs he was staring into were keeping him planted right where he was. And despite the seriousness of the situation, Damien chose this moment to take in her features.

She seemed to be as tall as Damien, maybe taller. Her long jet black hair didn't seem to be styled in any particular way at the moment; it just rested upon her shoulders and down to her shoulder blades. Although her face contained no make-up at all, it held a charm that would've put any pageant queen to shame. It contained no baby fat, no unsightly blemishes, no flaws whatsoever. The only thing besides her eyes that did stand out on her face was a small beauty mark near the corner of her right eye.

Her shoulders seemed to be a bit tense and poised for action but, given the situation, that was understandable. His eyes traveled lower and-

_"Damn."_Hethought quietly.

The bra he had examined moments earlier didn't lie. A perfectly symmetrical pair of breast could be seen bulging from underneath of the silk robe.

Her figure was flawless.

"My face is up here…"

Damien quickly turned his attention back to his newfound guest's face. Which, by the way, was looking as stoic as before.

"I'll ask again. Could you please drop my bra?" she repeated, just as cold as before.

Damien complied and backed away from her bed.

"Um, I'm sorry. I was just folding up a few clo-."

"If I wanted my clothes folded, I would've done so myself." She said sternly.

"Yeah um…my bad." He muttered.

"I assume you're Damien?" she asked.

"Yeah…and you must be Deimos?" he responded.

"Correct…"

There was a long awkward silence that followed.

"Um, why are you wet?" Damien asked.

She arched an eyebrow at his question.

"You're clothes are completely soaked." He gestured to her robe.

She took a moment to inspect herself.

"Oh, this? Energy manipulation training. I'm pretty sure you could see the waterfall from the balcony right?"

"Yeah, it seemed to be a bit calmer than usual though." He responded.

"That usually happens when you freeze it…no?"

Damien went wide eyed.

"You froze a waterfall?" he asked disbelievingly.

"Yes, is that a problem?"

"No but…" he thought of how to correctly phrase it, to no avail. "You froze an _entire _waterfall."

"I'm sorry, but I don't seem to understand what you're trying to say." Her response was almost android-like, much to Damien's displeasure.

Damien decided to try one last time.

"You froze an entire waterfall, that's something that would take an enormous amount of Karma and energy manipulation to do."

"It's really not that amazing…" she said nonchalantly. "I've heard that you're capable of far greater exploits."

"I'm pretty sure you already know that I can't do energy manipulation to save my life…" he muttered.

"You can save your life, just not through energy manipulation." She corrected.

"Say again?" he asked, very confused.

"I want you to show me how you did it." She stated, ignoring his last question. "Follow me." She left the bedroom leaving Damien as baffled as ever.

_"What the hell is she talking about?"_ Damien exited the bedroom to find her standing on the balcony. She was waiting for him with arms crossed. He took his spot beside her.

"Now, what do you want me to do?"

"I want you to jump." She pointed to the edge of the balcony.

"Look, I'm sorry for going through your underwear, but I'm not gonna hurl myself from a ten story balcony just to make you feel better."

She grabbed his shirt and brought him closer to her body. Damien could feel each and every curve pressing up against him.

"Whoa, what are you doing!?" he yelled. He backed up in an attempt to get away from her, right into the balcony guard rail.

"What's your deal!?"

"Please…" she pressed harder against him. "Do it…"

Damien's face went scarlet.

_"This has to be a dream; no way in hell any of this crap is real."_

She leaned in, bringing herself even closer to him.

_"Well, what the use. If it is a dream, oh well. If it isn't…oh boy."_

He closed his eyes and waited. He felt her hand rest on his chest.

_"Here it comes."_

He felt another hand grip his rear end, he jumped slightly.

_"Oh, so it's like that huh? _

"This should be interesting…" she stated.

_"Indeed it should."_

And in one swift movement, he felt half of his body lift into the air as the other half was sent headfirst over the edge of the balcony.

Damien's eyes snapped open to see Deimos rapidly ascending out of sight.

"The hell!?" he yelled. He turned his head to see the academy main gates quickly approaching him.

"This has to be a dream, there's no way _any _of the crap is real!" He repeated his thoughts from moments ago, as if hoping for it would make him right.

Unfortunately, this wasn't the case.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Upon entering his room, Eddy was immediately blow away by his living arrangements. Marble floors, leather sofas, stainless steel cookware, and mink blankets were only the tip of this iceberg.

As he entered his room to unpack his bags, he could hear the sound of running water from the bathroom.

_"I guess my roommates already here."_

He continued unpacking his bags for the next 10 minutes. When he reached into his bag to pull out another picture, he laughed at this particular one. The picture contained a scene from their training days with Syd. Their Master was in the middle, smiling as always, with a hand on both of her apprentices, Eddy was to her left, giving a thumb up to the photographer, and Damien, for some reason, seemed to be slightly burned and was glaring at the camera.

He chuckled slightly at that particular memory.

"Edward?" a voice came from the bathroom. "Is that you?"

Eddy immediately perked up at his name.

"Um, yeah…how'd ya know it was me?"

"Well, your name was on the door, and you're the only other person that has a key to this room, silly." Her voice was like honey to his ears.

_Ba bump…_

"Ah, y-yeah. Dats true." He said, slightly stammering.

_"Whoa, dats a first…I NEVER stammer around a chick…"_

"And I assume you're Patricia den?" he asked, trying to recover his cool.

"That's correct, and how are you today Edward?"

_Ba bump…_

There it was again. Upon just hearing her voice his heart skips a couple beats.

"I-I'm alright, and yourself?"

"I'm not so great right now, I seem to be in a sort of dilemma…" she sounded worried.

"I'm sorry to hear dat. Is der anyway dat I can be of help?" his voice was sincere…for once.

"Um yeah, it may sound a bit weird though…" she trailed off.

"It's alright, what do ya need?"

"Well, I need you to come into the bathroom first…"

_BA BUMP!!!_

"S-say again?" he could of sworn she said-

"Can you please come into my bathroom Edward?" she repeated.

There was a pause.

"Um, are you sure about dat? You're asking a guy to come into your bathroom…wit' nobody else around?"

Another pause.

"It's alright. I can tell you're not a bad person…" she finally responded.

Eddy walked slowly toward the door. He stopped just outside of it.

His heart was in his throat and his mind was in disarray.

_"What de hell is going on? Normally I would jump at a chance like dis. But right now I'm feeling…bashful? No, a better word would be…afraid."_

Yes, for possibly the first time during his hundreds of years of interacting with the opposite sex, Eddy felt every bit afraid of what was waiting behind the bathroom door in front of him. This feeling was foreign to him. He had always known how to read the atmosphere. He had always known how to adjust or adapt to any given situation on the fly. But now, all of that experience seems to have disappeared upon meeting this…Patricia.

He place his hand on the door handle and gripped it with unnecessary force, as if it would allow him to get a better grip on the situation. His palms were sweaty, his breathing irregular, and his mind…a jumbled mess.

_"What if dis is some kind of joke? Like some sort of prank or something? There might not just be one person in the bathroom; there could be an entire group of girls waiting to ambush me or something! I can see it now…"_

_~*An Eddy moment…*~_

_Eddy cautiously turned the handle of the door. He slowly eased it open, allowing some of the bathroom mist to escape through the crack. He stepped inside and found himself lost inside the abundance of steam. He could see the silhouette of a figure perched on the edge of the bathtub._

_"Patricia?" Eddy called._

_"Yes Edward?" she responded._

_"What seems to be da problem?"_

_"I need you to do me a small favor…"_

_"Like what?" he said cautiously._

_"Come closer…"_

_He slowly approached the silhouette._

_"Closer…" she repeated_

_He took a few more steps._

_"That's perfect…"_

_"Now what do you need me to do?" his voice was laced with anxiety._

_"I need you to…SMILE!!!" she screamed._

_Instantly the mist cleared to reveal at least six other girls in the bathroom. And they were all armed to the teeth with cameras._

_"YOU PERVERT!!!" they all bellowed._

_And then the flashes came…_

_"What the-" Eddy started._

_No matter what angle a picture was taken, they all showed the same thing: Edward __Doussaint approaching his very afraid roommate while she was stark naked in the bathroom._

_"These pictures will ensure that you're kicked out of the academy!" Patricia stated._

_"NOOOOOOO!!!" Eddy screamed._

_~*End Eddy moment…*~_

Eddy's breathing was very ragged and his knuckles were white from gripping the door handle so hard.

"Edward?" Patricia called again. "Are you okay? You seem to be breathing very heavily…" Her voice was dripping with genuine sincerity. Eddy felt himself calm down immediately.

_"What da hell am I doing? Here I am thinking about all de wrong things dat could happen to me if I walk through dis door, and my roommates on de other side waiting for some assistance. Fuck da possibilities! She might really be in a jam right now!_

And with newfound courage Eddy bolted right through the door…just to stop dead in his tracks again at the sight that awaited him.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Syd and Gabrahnth walked silently down the academy corridors glancing at the various portraits of previous Grandmasters and Grand mistresses on the walls.

"It's been a while since I've seen that face…" Syd stated solemnly.

Gabrahnth stopped and inspected the portrait she was referring to.

A young man that with bright orange hair and chocolate brown eyes could be seen smiling in the picture. A large number of freckles spanned across his nose and underneath of his eyes. He looked very friendly.

A golden plaque underneath of his portrait read:

Grandmaster Lance Jean Vasch: An inspiration to us all…

"Ah, Grandmaster Vann…" Gabrahnth stated. His voice was just as solemn.

They both stared at the portrait in silence.

"It's been a good thousand years since he went missing hasn't it?" An all too familiar voice broke the silence.

"And just where have you been hiding this entire time Jerry-boy?" Syd asked with her trademark half smile.

Headmaster Gabrahnth whirled around to meet him. An expression of extreme happiness could be seen emblazoned across his face.

"JERICHO!!!" Gabrahnth instantly closed the gap between them with a bear-hug, the likes of which Jericho _still _hadn't grown used to_._

"Uh…nice to see you as well Joseph." He had to strain to get his words out.

"It's been _ages, since _I've seen you my friend!" Jericho said happily.

"Um…yeah, sorry…about that. But could you maybe…let me go?" he groaned.

Joseph instantly releases his hold on Jericho and proceeded to pat him down, all the while donning his trademark idiotic grin.

"So Jericho, where the devil have you been this entire time?" Gabrahnth inquired.

"Reconnaissance…" He muttered flatly.

Syd turned around and eyed him suspiciously

"Where exactly have you been performing this…reconnaissance?"

Jericho face adopted its usual stoic expression at Syd's question, and there was tense moment of silence before he responded.

"Terra Pro Cado…"

Syd's and Gabrahnth's eyes could've jumped out of their skulls at those three words. Gabrahnth spoke up first.

"Why the in the hell are you poking around there!?"

"Well I…"

"Do you have _any _idea what'll happen if you were caught?!" Syd cut in.

"Yes, that's why I…"

"If she were to find out you were there, she'd stop at nothing to see you killed!" Gabrahnth yelled.

"I was carefu…"

"Have you forgotten what happened the last time one of us went there alo…"

"CAN I GET A DAMN WORD IN!?" Jericho bellowed.

Syd and Gabrahnth were speechless. Jericho's usual calm and cool demeanor was nowhere to be seen. And a noticeable vein could be seen pulsating from his temple.

"Thank you…" Jericho said, his cool returning.

"The other day, I felt something in the Karma matrix after I got back from the human world. It didn't feel normal…"

"Well, what did it _feel _like?" Syd questioned.

"The closest thing I could compare it to would be a sort of Karma "echo"." He said, placing air quotes around echo.

Syd and Gabrahnth shot each other a sideways glance.

"What exactly do you mean by a Karma echo?" Gabrahnth inquired.

"It was like for a spilt-second I feel someone's Karma signature. It was extremely faint however."

"Okay, but that still doesn't explain why you were snooping around in that deathtrap." Syd was growing anxious.

"I'm getting to that." Jericho answered. "Even for that split second I felt it, I managed to get a general direction from where it originated from. So I took off in that very direction."

There was a long pause between the three of them.

"So, let me get this straight Jericho." Gabrahnth began. "For a split second you manage to feel someone's Karma signature, emanating from Terra Pro Cado might I add, and you decide to rush over their no questions asked? Did the possibility even cross your mind that it could have been that wretched woman trying to do you in?" He finished.

"Yes, but the signature felt somewhat…familiar." He said uneasily.

At that moment the diamond heart on Syd's choker started to give off a red glow. Jericho and Gabrahnth eyed it suspiciously.

Syd gave of a sigh of irritability.

"We'll continue this later. Right now I have an important matter of business to attend to…"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Eddy stood frozen at the sight that was in front of him.

A girl medium length, sandy brown hair was perched on the edge of the bathtub staring blankly in his direction. The only thing covering her was a lavender colored bath towel.

Eddy couldn't help but stare at her vacant, steel grey eyes, which felt oddly familiar.

It was almost as if she was staring into his very soul, which made Eddy more than a little uncomfortable. The slight chuckle she gave of only added to the feeling.

"W-what? Do I have something on my face?" he asked awkwardly.

"I wouldn't know." she said, still chuckling.

_"Say what?"_

"Uh, what do you mean?" He asked perplexed.

She brushed a strand of hair behind her ear, which Eddy though was _incredibly _cute for some reason.

"I'm blind, can't see a thing." She said simply.

Eddy fell silent.

_"No way in hell she's being for real. Dat's a trap if I eva' heard one."_

Eddy looked around the room for any sign of hidden paparazzi. As far as he could see it was just him and Patricia currently occupying the room.

Eddy slowly walked over to her and stopped just in front of her.

_"If dis chick is really blind, she obviously won't see it coming. If she aint…den we'll find out shortly."_

"So if you're blind, how'd you find da bathroom? Eddy questioned as he began to bring his hand to her chest.

"Well, it kind of weird to explain."

"Oh? I've got a couple minutes to spare."

His hand inched slowly towards her breast.

"Even though I'm physically blind, I can still see in a way." She answered.

Eddy's hand was hovering over her chest, with one small movement he could cop a feel to remember for years to come.

"How so?"

"Well I have a special pair of glasses that allow me to "see" Karma. I made a special request to the Headmaster and he made sure to have the entire room lace and tainted with Karma for me."

Eddy paused for a moment. He brought his hand back to his side and briefly stepped out of the bathroom. He focused his senses and looked around his new home.

Sure enough, everywhere he looked everything and anything was giving off a very dim glow. The glow was virtually unnoticeable unless you were actually looking for it.

_"I guess she's not lying. But that just leaves…"_

Eddy made his way back into the bathroom and stopped just short of Patricia.

"So, where are your glasses?" He asked skeptically.

"You see, that's my little dilemma right now. I don't remember where I put the before I hopped in the shower…" she stated sullenly. "Do you see them anywhere?"

Eddy glanced about the bathroom momentarily. It wasn't on the sink, it wasn't near the tub, and it wasn't on the floor anywhere. The only thing on black marble floor was a mat and a laundry hamper in the corner. He looked behind the laundry hamper and sure enough, a pair of black, rectangular, glasses were lying behind it. He picked up the spectacles and cleaned them off.

"Here." He said, handing the glasses over.

She reached out clumsily took the glasses. Upon placing them on her face the pupils in her eyes returned and the grey changed to more of a silvery tone. She instantly looked Damien square in the face.

"Thank you Edward."

No problem, but Patricia?"

"Yes?"

"Could you call me Eddy instead of Edward? Nobody really calls me by that name."

"Only if you call stop calling me Patricia, the only people who call me that are my village elders…" she said gloomily.

"Uh, okay…What should I call you then?"

"Just Trish." She said smiling.

"It' a pleasure to meet you Trish."

"Same here Eddy…" A she said that a _very _slight blush could be seen.

An awkward pause fell between them before Trish spoke up again.

"Oh um Eddy?" she said awkwardly.

"Yeah?"

You're earring just went from silver to red…How'd you do that?"

Eddy's eyes went wide as he instantly knew what that meant.

_"Dammit bro…"_

"Um…I need to leave." And before Trish could even utter a response Eddy was already bolting out of the room.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Just do your trick!" Deimos yelled below.

"For the millionth time, WHAT TRICK!?" Damien screamed above him.

And again, he was met with silence. This little exchange of dialogue had been repeating it self nonstop ever since Deimos jumped over after him about a minute ago. Somehow, to Damien's chagrin, Deimos didn't seem at all worried about the impending doom they were falling towards. Even though she was falling as well, it seemed as if she was somehow…in control of it?

"Why are you doing this!?"

"I just want to see your trick." She repeated.

"I don't have any tricks!" Damien yelled irritated.

"That's not what my master told me. He saw the sand pits…"

_"The sand pits?"_

"Wait…that little thing!?"

"You're running out of time..." she gestured below him.

Damien spun around and saw exactly how close the ground was getting now.

He had at most five seconds.

Damien instantly hit a back flip, and upon coming full circle his hands and legs were blazing silver.

Deimos stared at him, taking in every detail and movement. But no sooner had she started, he plunged into the ground with noticeable shockwaves ringing throughout the area. A large number in the area looked up in response.

In the middle of the dust and debris, Damien was buried up to his waist in sand, looking very irritated.

Deimos gracefully floated down to meet him, looking somewhat satisfied.

"Are you happy?" Damien asked, not even bothering to look in her direction.

"It will suffice..." Responded nonchalantly

***Terra Pro Cado- Land for the Fallen**

**A/N: Ugh, this chapter was murder on my free time. Every time I looked up I was swapping out a line or making changes to some paragraph. But I'd like to think the finished product will suffice. So, are you happy? R&R**

**-DormantDragon28**


	8. Annoyong as hell

Announcement…

Due to a growing number of authors being reported and having their stories ejected from FF.N by an author who shall remain nameless, I've decided to be a "good little boy" and comply with the rules and regulations. The newly posted chapter 7 of Karma's Keeper will be the last chapter I submit to FF.N. I will be moving to Fictionpress to continue my work. All chapters will be re-uploaded and rewritten for quality. Although FP is significantly _less_ popular than FF it is in fact the more appropriate site to post my work. Which, if couldn't tell by the summary, is **not **a fanfic.

Hopefully, this move will not harm my hits and reviews (however few in number they may be) in any way. I look forward to your reviews, SKG and Andrew.

But for now, effective immediately, The Dragon is going dormant on FF.N

(P.s. Who knows, I may come back with actual fanfics or something later…)


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